Hit or a miss?

Today, I bring you the best possible gift—a story about how my friend mercilessly tore me a new one.

I wish this wasn’t a true story.

Let’s go back - Saturday night, a harmless dinner and drinks catch-up with some friends from my ol’ PR days.

But nothing good happens after midnight. Or after 3 (4? 5?) drinks. Or when someone says, ‘let’s go around the table and be honest about each other’s sense of style.’

Before we get into the answers, I feel like I should give some context into what I think about my personal style.

Look, I’m not Miss Pinterest (lol). Do I walk around looking like a performance art piece? No, but do I care about how I dress? Yes.

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But I guess that’s not for everyone.

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We went around the table saying cute things like;

“I love how much color you wear.”

“You should wear more skirts, you look amazing in them.”

“I need you to teach me how to accessorize.”
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And soon, it’s my turn.

My lovely dear friend, her eyes blurry from drink number I-lost-count, shifts her gaze to me.

I should’ve heard the bullet slide into the chamber. I should’ve felt the air shift.

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“I always thought your sense of style is quite a hit or a miss.”, she says, the way someone might inform a colleague that they have spinach in their teeth.

Casual. Direct. World-shattering.

“You try a lot of things, but they don’t always work out. I know you try to be different, but sometimes it doesn’t look the way you think it looks.”

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She said some more, but I think that was enough embarrassing myself on the internet for a day.

You’d think I’m wearing experimental high couture on the runway by the sound of that. Instead, there I am, sitting in a tank and a pair of Zara jeans I’ve worn now for nearly 6 years.

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But I think what’s funnier is how I reacted.

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I was so beyond shocked that I AGREED.

As if possessed by a demon of misplaced humility, I nodded and said, “I guess I have my off days, haha, maybe it’s time to update my wardrobe.”

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UHM

Embarassing

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Luckily, this was a singular opinion, and my other friends pounced to offset this input with some (much needed) words of encouragement.

But this was my face for the remainder of the night

I still don’t know what the right response was. But I do know it wasn’t whatever I said.

Don’t be like me.

Don’t let not knowing what to say stop you from saying the thing itself.

Like with your emails.

Getting overwhelmed thinking up content topics or ideas to send your list is so 2024

And sure, winging it and just putting ‘send newsletter’ on your to-do list for the day and spending 30 minutes wracking your brain trying to think of a cohesive topic is a strategy.

But it’s definitely not the strategy.

Enter the Email Marketing Calendar.

Here are some problems a email calendar solves:

1. It helps you stay consistent: if you map out all the emails you want to send in a month, chances are higher that you’re going to actually send them (100x better than an arbitrary goal to ‘send a minimum of 2 emails a week’)
2. Plan ahead and bask in the glow of truly feeling prepared: "Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." Your email calendar is your axe.
3. Do more of what’s working: When you plan and track what you’re sending, you have a clear idea of what works and what doesn’t. Plus, it helps you avoid unnecessary duplication of emails.

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Here’s how to prep your own email marketing calendar

• Pick the days you want to send emails

If you pick Mondays and Thursdays, mark out the dates of every Monday and Thursday of that month.

• Holidays and Themes

Now consult a calendar and check if any big days (like St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, etc.) or seasons (Spring, BBQ season) collide with the dates on your calendar.

• Plan for Key Dates

Slot in emails at least 5 days in advance of any thematic holidays

• Check your Google Analytics and Pinterest Trends

Review blog posts that have done well for you this month and check Pinterest trends for searches that are under ‘growing trends’ and see if you have overarching interests within your blog posts

• Choose topics

Based on your research, pick out topics, ideas, or blog posts that you want to highlight for each day you would like to send an email

• Choose URLs

Assign blog posts and other CTA’s that are relevant to these topics, those you want to drive traffic towards

• Draft Subject lines and preview text

See if you’d like to do any A/B testing of subject lines. Review subject lines with good open-rate responses from previous emails and use that as a framework for future subjects.

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If you do try this system, feel free to send it to me - I’d LOVE to see it and share my thoughts! I create SO many email marketing calendars a month that at this point, my brain is hardwired for it.

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TTYNW! (—talk to you next week)

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